Bears lead NFC North, but not for long

The Atlanta Falcons, San Francisco 49ers, Green Bay Packers and Washington Redskins are a combined 3-9 three games into the 2013 NFL season. As the NFC's four division winners, those teams lost 18 total games in all of '12. Although it's early, only one of them still has a chance to repeat in first place. Here's reassessing the races:

NFC South

Drew Brees and the Saints are headed toward an NFC South title. (AP photo)

Current leader: Saints (3-0)

Sporting News preseason pick: Falcons (1-2)

SN's new pick: Saints

The Falcons went 13-3 last season as the NFC's top playoff seed. They are one loss away from matching their '12 loss total, and host the 3-0 Patriots in Week 4. The pile of injuries are hurting their defense more, and after an easier October stretch, games against New Orleans, Seattle, Green Bay and San Francisco loom in the final two months. Those much-improved Saints have a big early lead and can quickly march away with the South.

Chicago and Detroit (2-1) are both ahead of Green Bay out of the gate, and the Bears travel to the Lions this week. The Packers get a Week 4 bye to think about their tough defeats at Cincinnati and San Francisco. If you recall, they also were 1-2 in 2012 and finished up 10-3. Part of that was sweeping the North, and they host the Lions to open divisional play in Week 5. With Aaron Rodgers, they have the offense to go another roll. It's a slow build to their Week 17 trip to Solider Field being a de facto division title game.